Just a Cold
by girlgamer123
Summary: Sam's not feeling too hot after the incident with the Benders and Dean isn't quite sure how to shop for someone who's sick. One-shot! Takes place during season one.


**I do not own Supernatural **

"Up and at 'em Sammy! We got us a quick salt and burn to finish!" Dean slapped Sam's leg that stuck out from the covers. Sam groaned and rubbed his eyes, looking over at the clock. The bright green numbers flashed 2:30 am and made his head pound harder.

Sam hadn't felt that great after the incident with the Benders. He had spent a few nights with little to eat and that barn was cold with just a t-shirt on. When Dean had finally rescued him they had high-tailed it out of there as quick as they could. The two brothers hadn't stopped until there was a state between them and that town.

"C'mon Sam night time's burning! Get your stuff; we only have a few hours before that ghost shows up and tries to kill us again. You can sleep when the job's over," Dean continued as he gathered his stuff and packed it hastily into his duffle.

The other day Dean received a call from an old friend from a few years ago telling them that there were some accidents occurring in the town and wanted Sam and Dean to check it out. It was on the way to their next job, and Dean thought it sounded like an easy salt and burn. Boy were they wrong.

This haunting was way more than that. The apparition only attacked at 4:16 am and had a serious grudge against any member of the male gender. After Sam did some research they found that this ghost was a woman killed by her husband for cheating on him. Her story wasn't anything special, but she was a seriously pissed off woman who was in no rush to move on to the next world. Her ghost had already killed both her husband and her lover, and still wasn't satisfied.

Sam and Dean had already tried to get rid of the body for the past few nights, but they could never get close enough to the body before she appeared and beat the crap out of the two of them. Dean was starting to worry about Sam. Not only was he being used as a punching bag every night, but he was also coughing more than usual and sounding a little stuffed up after their encounter with the Benders. Sam tried to hide it, but Sam would wake Dean up in the middle of the night with his coughing and hacking. And on more than one occasion Dean would catch Sam bent over the toilet, hacking up his insides and not eating his usual rabbit food.

Sam still hadn't gotten out of bed when Dean finished packing. "Sam? You wanna sit this night out? I can handle this now that we know what to do."

Sam sat up slowly, shaking his head, "no Dean, I'm fine, just give me a minute."

Dean shrugged, "alright, I'll be out in the car, just hurry up; I wanna finish this up as soon as possible." _And get you some rest_ Dean thought to himself.

O-o

"Alright! Thank God that's over," Dean said happily as the two drove through the night. "You were right Sammy, that bitch just needed a distraction. What do you say you and I go find a place for a beer in celebration, then hit the motel?"

"Can we skip the beer? Or could you just drop me off at the motel?" Sam rasped out, closing his eyes and resting his head against the window of the Impala. The cold glass felt good against his hot skin and he coughed quietly into his sleeve. It was getting harder and harder to hide the fact that Sam was feeling crappier and crappier.

"Are you sure you're okay? You haven't been your usual pain in the ass ever since the Benders," Dean looked over to see his little brother paler than normal and shivering slightly.

"I just need a full six hours of sleep and a night where we don't have to fight anything and I'll be fine. I'm just a little tired. Don't worry," Sam muttered.

"Bullshit Sam, you're sick." Dean reached into the back seat and pulled out the wool blanket from the back seat and gave it to Sam. "Here; we'll be at the motel soon."

"Thanks," Sam pulled the blanket up to his chin and was asleep almost instantly.

O-o

"What do you get from someone who's sick?" Dean wondered aloud as he wandered down the drug store aisles. He had left Sam at the motel in bed with strict orders to rest and to keep his hands off any research. Just to be safe however, Dean had stolen Sam's laptop and hid it in the Impala.

"What's the difference between these?" Dean held two Theraflus up to the light, trying to see inside at the red liquid, "I swear to God fighting the supernatural is easier than this!"

"Excuse me sir? Do you need some help?" Dean turned to meet the bright blue eyes of a cute blond. Dean didn't notice how long she had been standing there. The young woman had been in the aisle for the past twenty minutes "restocking shelves" in hopes that Dean would notice her and talk to her. Dean was too pre-occupied and didn't even notice the pretty girl.

"Yeah, why are there so many different medicines? Why can't they all just do the same thing? I just need the one that will make my brother feel better,"

"Okay well what does he have?" the woman asked.

"He's sick, I just told you. Now do I really need to choose a specific one?" _Jesus Christ is this woman for real?_

"No I mean what are his symptoms? Coughing? Sneezing?" she tried again.

"Oh yeah both of those, and he can't keep anything down. He felt a little hot before I left him to come here," Dean's face softened as he thought of his poor sick brother.

She grabbed a random box off the shelf and gave it to Dean, "then here, try this one. Do you need anything else? Gatorade, water, food?"

"I think that's it. Why are those other things really necessary?" Dean looked quizzically at her.

_This guy is hopeless,_ she thought. She gave Dean a gentile smile, "yes, it's important when someone's sick they stay hydrated. Come on, I'll help you pick some stuff out so you're properly equipped." And she led Dean through the store, grabbing seemingly random objects and handing them to him. Once she deemed him ready to take on sick Sam, she brought him to the front of the store, "Come on I'll ring you up, it's not like anyone else is here at this time of night."

"Are you really sure all this is needed?" Dean asked as he tried to balance all the products.

"Unless you want to take him to the hospital, then yes," she laughed as she rang him up. She printed the receipt and handed it to Dean as he put everything in a bag.

"Okay, thanks for all your help," Dean said over his shoulder as he left the store. As he ran towards the Impala he threw away the receipt, not realizing the girl had left her phone number on the back.

Sam hardly noticed the door opening when Dean finally made it back to the room.

"Dean?" he coughed out as Dean tried to put the bag down as silently as he could.

"Yeah, I'm here Sammy, and I brought you something," Dean brought over the Theraflu and Gatorade as Sam struggled to sit up.

"Have you seen my laptop?" Sam asked as he swallowed the liquids.

"Nope. And I thought I told you no researching until you're better. We'll just hang here a few days until you can actually sit up and keep a meal down."

"But we need to find Dad," Sam sneezed as he snuggled back down under the blankets. The medicine was starting to work and Sam was starting to drift off again.

"Dad can wait. Right now I need to look after my pain in the ass little brother. I can't just have you collapse on me when something important actually happens."

"Jerk," Sam managed out as he drifted off to sleep.

"Bitch."


End file.
